Another non-Mopar car discussion; '94 5.0 Stang

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MopaR&D

MopaR&D

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A good friend of mine bought a very clean 1994 Mustang GT 5.0L Automatic a few weeks ago. It has a cold-air intake and nice sounding header-back exhaust but is otherwise stock. He prefers Mopar but doesn't have the technical skills to maintain a classic car which is why he went with a late-model Mustang. He was looking at a few and I recommended he go with one that has a 5.0 instead of the 4.6 because I've heard it's not much better of an engine and the 5.0 is a much more conventional old-school V8. The exhaust has a wonderful rumble and it is very smooth going down the road at high speed; pulls decent at speed too. Only problem...

IT HAS NO TORQUE!!! lol I could not get the tires to spin no matter how hard I tried; my stock 4.0L Jeep Cherokee could cream it from a stop. I've done some research and supposedly this model year has very tame ignition and A/F specs from the factory, pulling timing out during shifts and when accelerating from a stop. My recommendation to him is to first get a programmer/chip that will bump up the timing to where it should be for good performance, also to firm up the shifts because that AOD shifts like it's full of molasses. Any of you FABO'ers have experience with this generation of 5.0 Mustangs? I also recommended a gear swap to 3.73's because stock is 3.08 which I feel is absolutely ridiculous considering it has a 0.67 overdrive; the engine is barely spinning at highway speeds as it is.:wack: What do you guys think?
 
Every 5.0 I have had,added 3.55,or 3.73 gears.Most 5.0s were sticks,came with a 3.27 1st gear ratio.Best way to start.X2 on a programmer of some sort.Might want to check the AOD,for a shift kit.Stock AODs don't last ,unless babied.
 
3.73's would be nice.. still highway friendly with the AoD..
 
I've heard the AOD is pretty weak too, I did recommend a shift kit to him as well. There's only one programmer I've found for that year Mustang and it supposedly changes shift firmness, will this help the tranny hold up to the abuse from drag racing until he gets a shift kit or does it just make it a little quicker?
 
The programmer/shift kit,will reduce time between shifts.It will extend trans life a while.You will end up upgrading it eventually.A stock AOD,is that weak.They can be upgraded,put it is pricey.Best aftermarket AOD I know of is PA transmissions.Summit or Jegs,carry them as a vendor.
 
Back in the day I personally knew or knew of probably 20 people that had 5.0 Mustangs. One thing I remember very clearly is that bone stock Mustang "a" could be significantly faster or slower than bone stock Mustang "b". Seemingly identical cars would often run very differently from each other.

The best that me and my non-Ford buddies could figure is that the production tolerances weren't very well handled by the factory. If you got lucky you might get a car that had a well built engine, and if you were unlucky you got the one with wild variances in the weight of the rods and pistons, and / or a crappy casting on the heads, and / or piston rings with a 1/2 inch gap, etc.

Oh, and I remember the automatics being particularly pathetic. I once drove my buddie's mom's automatic '89 Mustang convertible, and the thing wouldn't even do a brake stand. It just revved up against the converter to about 2200 rpm and sat there - no wheel spin at all.
 
my ford buddy says the automatic cars really like the 3.73 gears.. the AOD seems to lose OD for some reason but can be built to handle power fine..

you think a 3.08 gear is nuts you should see my 87 LX, it has 2.73 gears in it..lol awesome on the highway...
 
autopar3000 said:
Back in the day I personally knew or knew of probably 20 people that had 5.0 Mustangs. One thing I remember very clearly is that bone stock Mustang "a" could be significantly faster or slower than bone stock Mustang "b". Seemingly identical cars would often run very differently from each other.

The best that me and my non-Ford buddies could figure is that the production tolerances weren't very well handled by the factory. If you got lucky you might get a car that had a well built engine, and if you were unlucky you got the one with wild variances in the weight of the rods and pistons, and / or a crappy casting on the heads, and / or piston rings with a 1/2 inch gap, etc.

Oh, and I remember the automatics being particularly pathetic. I once drove my buddie's mom's automatic '89 Mustang convertible, and the thing wouldn't even do a brake stand. It just revved up against the converter to about 2200 rpm and sat there - no wheel spin at all.
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me, I tried to do a brake stand and no matter how I played with the gas and brake the tires wouldn't budge. Understandable for a stock 318 2-bbl. Mopar but not for a later 5.0 Stang lol. Hopefully the programmer will wake it up, supposedly the stock timing specs are very lame.

BTW anyone know if they usually come stock with Limited Slip Diff?
 
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